Closing arguments in J.K. Rowling case

NEW YORK, May 13 (UPI) -- Attorneys for the man who compiled the "Harry Potter Lexicon" said during closing arguments in New York that author J.K. Rowling's lawsuit has no merit.

Warner Bros. and Rowling are suing Steven Jan Vander Ark in Manhattan federal court because they say his Potter fan Internet Web site and Potter encyclopedia steal directly from Rowling's original "Harry Potter" books and add little insight or material of their own.

However, the New York Post said the defense fired back in its closing arguments, stating that Rowling and the movie studio that adapted her books into big-screen blockbusters overreacted when they learned Vander Ark and publisher RDR Books organized and intended to publish a volume of factoids from her books.

"Access to the (Harry Potter) Lexicon Web site has always been free and available to everyone," the Post said Vander Ark's attorney David Saul Hammer noted in summations to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Patterson. "Since Mr. Vander Ark created the Lexicon Web site in 2000, it has been a volunteer effort that earned little money."